The industry of transportation has long been a hugely important one, and not just here in the United States. All throughout the world, various transportation industries have played a key role not only in the growth of society, but in the ways in which we live our lives as well. These advancements have continued on, and will likely continue on for many more years to come.
After all, the growth of the industry of transportation in the United States has become quite obvious indeed, especially so if you have a background in truckload freight shipping services or even overweight shipping or LTL shipping services. For one thing, the sheer amount of goods being shipped is still on the rise. Back in the year of 2013, which is now more than five years in the past, the trucking industry alone transported around 15 billion tons of cargo over the course of the year and all throughout the country. However, this number is expected to have grown quite tremendously by the time that we reach the year of 2040, which is now not so very far off after all. By this year, it is anticipated that we will be shipping very nearly 19 billion tons of cargo over this same span of time, the single year.
On top of this, the actual value of cargo is also very much on the rise. In that same year of 2013, a ton of cargo was only worth just over $800. While this is certainly not unimpressive in its own right, it’s only gone upwards since. Again, by the time that we reach the year of 2040, this amount will have increased quite tremendously. In this upcoming year, a ton of cargo will now be worth well over $1,300 each, which is certainly no small jump upwards, not by any standards. And this is something that will hold true for truckload freight services, for LTL shipping services, and for overweight freight shipping services as well.
But why, exactly, have we seen an increase in all of the above? Why is the industry of LTL shipping, outside of normal truckload freight shipping, now worth $35 billion in its own right? Much of this growth seen in truckload freight shipping and beyond is something that can be very directly attributed to the growth of e-commerce and, as a result, online shopping. Online shopping is hugely important in our world nowadays, and is also quite hugely convenient.
Buying things online is easy, easier than ever before. In fact, it is so easy that a huge chunk of the population will buy something new online on a weekly basis, something that would not have been even remotely possible just a few years in the past. Nowadays, however, buying something from any given online vendor has become as simple of a task as pushing a button and inputting your credit card information. And you can buy just about anything from any given online platform. For instance, it is not uncommon to buy clothing and various recreational activities online. It has even become common to buy groceries online, something that the vast majority of people would never have even considered doing in the all too recent past.
Because of this demand for online shopping to be made readily available, the world of e-commerce is certainly quite the thriving one. As a matter of fact, the market for e-commerce in the United States alone is currently valued at more than $420 billion – a number that is only expected to rise in an exponential way in the years that are ahead of us. And with the growth of e-commerce has come the need for the growth of everything from truckload freight services to even pharma logistics services. And as the world of e-commerce continues to grow more and more prominent all throughout the United States, we are certainly not unlikely to see a growth in the world of trucking and transportation on the whole as well. From truckload freight services to less than truckload services (above mentioned as LTL services), such things are undeniably on the rise in this country and likely in many other places throughout the world in its entirety as well.